Best podcasts: About politics

October 24, 2016

Ahead of the American election I thought it might be time to talk about one of my favourite topics, politics. Keeping with the Monday theme I’m going to suggest some of, what I feel, are the best politics podcasts out there.

Women of the Hour

This is a special podcast because it had such a short run. It’s led by Lena Dunham for five incredibly captivating episodes (and some little bonus extras). I was immediately grabbed by this podcast. It is produced incredibly well, with a variety hour type of feel that has emotion and wit. It ended in 2015, but I can only hope that there will be some extra special surprise episodes now that Dunham has wrapped girls.

For a particularly political episode (although I think they can all be considered political in the way that feminism is), try “episode 2: the body”.

Embedded

I’ve talked about how wonderful this podcast is before. It’s an NPR podcast where reporters embed themselves in a situation to learn more about it beyond an initial news story or headline. All of the episodes have stuck with me and I’ve been telling people about the important issues that are covered in the podcast, even months later. They cover issues such as drug abuse, gang violence and suicide.

The best episode if you want something very political (they all are to some degree) is “Episode 2: The Capitol”. It is about the violence that has been happening in El Salvador’s capital and what is next for the country so entrenched in violent gang violence.

Keepin’ It 1600

Ready for some election talk? Check this podcast out. It comes from the Ringer’s series of podcasts. This one is hosted by Obama’s former speechwriter, Jon Favreau. He has guests from all sides of the aisle in to discuss everything political that’s going on right now. So of course they’re mainly focused on the election right now, with a few diversions.

They are uploading new episodes at least twice a week right now, so pick up on the newest episode to get a more in-depth look in what has been riling pundits recently.

That’s it for today’s post. Let me know if you have any political (or political adjacent) podcasts that you enjoy, in the comments below. If you do listen to any of these podcasts I suggested, now or in the future, let me know what you think!